gonna sound far-fetched. So, no judgment. Deal?"
She cracks a smile and we both know she's won. Somehow, even though I've got powers she cannot even comprehend and I could kill her in an instant, she is smug.
"OK, but this is the short version, got it? I'm not gonna go into detail because it's too much. The details, Cora. They're too much."
She nods but holds her words.
"I went with the avians willingly. I chose that so they could morph me into one of them. I'm the product of some very strange bioengineering that took place out in the Rural Republic over the past several decades. And they did change me. I was avian for a while. But then I was told, shown actually, that their gene pool was, well—let's just call it a complete disaster. They had to stop their reproduction and because I was part of this group of specially engineered children, I had a role in helping them restore their gene pool and I play the final part in some sort of avian prophecy."
I stop to gauge her reaction so far but all she does is take another drag on her cigarette. The suborbital has apparently been cleared for take-off because I am slammed back in my seat with the new velocity. I wait for the lift of air that tells me we've left the ground and then continue.
"So I came back to Earth with my team of warriors and we went into the Mountain Republic and took back my brothers and sisters. We are the avian Seven Siblings. Moju, Soli, Tukker, Esta, Sariel, Irin, and me."
"And?" Her eyes narrow, becoming more hateful than interested.
"And? And what?"
"The bomb? You blew up a nuclear reactor up in the mountains, Junco. Surely you didn't forget that part?"
I want to look away but I force myself to maintain eye contact. "If you saw what I saw up there, you'd have done it too, Cora. They had copies of us. Thousands upon thousands of replicas of us, only they weren't really us , right? They were sick amalgamations of—shit, I have no idea how they made those things. But the RR had them too, which is why my dad—"
"—fucked up the entire Central Republics with his nuclear bombs. And then you went and decided to do the same thing."
I shrug. "That's not quite how it went, but whatever. That guy you saw me with tonight? Gideon? The one who's probably looking for me right now? He's from another group of children like me. He's my partner and he was in my lap dying by the hand of the monster who represents humans in my little prophetic struggle. He was dying because when I was asked to make a choice back on that battlefield in the Runout valley, to choose humans and Earth or the Fallen Archers of the Band—"
Her jaw tenses as she clenches her teeth.
"—I chose Lucan."
She nods her head, but it's not in agreement, more like a confirmation of what she already knew. "That demon thing that's been terrorizing the entire planet for two years. You chose that thing over us ?"
I let out a long sigh. I'm so fucking tired of this us and them bullshit. "Well, I mean, he doesn't always act like that, Cora. He's a pretty cool guy."
She stubs her cigarette out in an ashtray on the table and sneers over at me. "You know what? If I wasn't harnessed into this goddamn seat and we weren't about to enter free-G, I'd beat the shit out of you right now."
I laugh and raise my eyebrows at her. "Would ya now? I don't know you, so maybe you could." I watch her face as I prepare the threat. "But I'd just like you to know that I killed more than a hundred people in free-G when I lived with the avians. So I'm ready to go when you are."
"You have no remorse, do you?"
"Remorse for what? I didn't drop those bombs on Peak City and Council 3! That place was like my fucking hometown! Besides, I was busy killing my best friend back in the Band the night that happened. I wasn't even on Earth, so fuck you and your righteous judgment because everyone that lived in Runout knew what they were involved in and if they didn't, then fuck them for being so stupid. You can't live in a small
She cracks a smile and we both know she's won. Somehow, even though I've got powers she cannot even comprehend and I could kill her in an instant, she is smug.
"OK, but this is the short version, got it? I'm not gonna go into detail because it's too much. The details, Cora. They're too much."
She nods but holds her words.
"I went with the avians willingly. I chose that so they could morph me into one of them. I'm the product of some very strange bioengineering that took place out in the Rural Republic over the past several decades. And they did change me. I was avian for a while. But then I was told, shown actually, that their gene pool was, well—let's just call it a complete disaster. They had to stop their reproduction and because I was part of this group of specially engineered children, I had a role in helping them restore their gene pool and I play the final part in some sort of avian prophecy."
I stop to gauge her reaction so far but all she does is take another drag on her cigarette. The suborbital has apparently been cleared for take-off because I am slammed back in my seat with the new velocity. I wait for the lift of air that tells me we've left the ground and then continue.
"So I came back to Earth with my team of warriors and we went into the Mountain Republic and took back my brothers and sisters. We are the avian Seven Siblings. Moju, Soli, Tukker, Esta, Sariel, Irin, and me."
"And?" Her eyes narrow, becoming more hateful than interested.
"And? And what?"
"The bomb? You blew up a nuclear reactor up in the mountains, Junco. Surely you didn't forget that part?"
I want to look away but I force myself to maintain eye contact. "If you saw what I saw up there, you'd have done it too, Cora. They had copies of us. Thousands upon thousands of replicas of us, only they weren't really us , right? They were sick amalgamations of—shit, I have no idea how they made those things. But the RR had them too, which is why my dad—"
"—fucked up the entire Central Republics with his nuclear bombs. And then you went and decided to do the same thing."
I shrug. "That's not quite how it went, but whatever. That guy you saw me with tonight? Gideon? The one who's probably looking for me right now? He's from another group of children like me. He's my partner and he was in my lap dying by the hand of the monster who represents humans in my little prophetic struggle. He was dying because when I was asked to make a choice back on that battlefield in the Runout valley, to choose humans and Earth or the Fallen Archers of the Band—"
Her jaw tenses as she clenches her teeth.
"—I chose Lucan."
She nods her head, but it's not in agreement, more like a confirmation of what she already knew. "That demon thing that's been terrorizing the entire planet for two years. You chose that thing over us ?"
I let out a long sigh. I'm so fucking tired of this us and them bullshit. "Well, I mean, he doesn't always act like that, Cora. He's a pretty cool guy."
She stubs her cigarette out in an ashtray on the table and sneers over at me. "You know what? If I wasn't harnessed into this goddamn seat and we weren't about to enter free-G, I'd beat the shit out of you right now."
I laugh and raise my eyebrows at her. "Would ya now? I don't know you, so maybe you could." I watch her face as I prepare the threat. "But I'd just like you to know that I killed more than a hundred people in free-G when I lived with the avians. So I'm ready to go when you are."
"You have no remorse, do you?"
"Remorse for what? I didn't drop those bombs on Peak City and Council 3! That place was like my fucking hometown! Besides, I was busy killing my best friend back in the Band the night that happened. I wasn't even on Earth, so fuck you and your righteous judgment because everyone that lived in Runout knew what they were involved in and if they didn't, then fuck them for being so stupid. You can't live in a small
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